This invention relates to safety devices. More particularly, the invention relates to a child restraint for use with a seat belt in an automobile.
It is known that the typical seat belt used in an automobile does not provide proper protection of young children and in particular children of ages below five years. One primary reason that the common automobile seat belt in use today is not effective in properly restraining children of these ages is that the size of these children principally in regard to the width of the child at his or her waist or lap area whereat a seat belt would be disposed is substantially less than the spacing between the attachment points of the seat belt to the seat resulting in gaps, voids or spaces between the child, the belt and the seat on opposite sides of the child. As a result, contact of the belt fully around the child from side to side is not achieved resulting in no side-to-side or lateral support of the child. Added to this, is the fact that children of these young years are not always capable of fully supporting themselves and, as a result, they can easily and inadvertantly twist or become cocked between the belt and the seat and even slip out from beneath the belt due to the lack of full restraint and lateral support.
Knowing this to be a principal shortcoming of the common adult seat belt in today's automobiles, numerous infant or child seats have been devised which usually are independantly attached to the car seat by way of the seat belt and the child is in turn placed in the auxilliary seat and restrained by the specially adapted seat which provides the needed lateral support. While these car seats are effective in properly securing, restraining and protecting young children, they are bulky, heavy, generally unwieldly and require removal and storage when not needed so as to make room for adult passengers. Accordingly, it would be desirable, and is an object of the present invention, to provide for a child restraint which provides for restraint and safety of young children but which is further easily removed and stored when not needed and which is easily re-attachable to the vehicle when required.